The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-20
GOOD STORIES OF PRESENT DAY.
When Detectives Are at Loss Luck
SOM tiInes Comes TO Help Them.
From the Ne,c York S,pl.

three very StueNYd r1SCalS hung up" the
town Tor three OF four weeks in way which
annoyed lis not little. They were chaps
known as porch climbers. and the way they
did their business was simply slick Porch
climbing was then in its infancy. A sneak
thief might be ready to take advantage Of
an open door or window on the lower story,
but as for shining upn a column to reach
balcony, or using a light ladder to enter a
chamber window, no one had ever tried it.
The very first job done by the gang re-
suited in a haul of 5000 worth of jewelry
Your common thief no sooner has any plum
der in his hand than he hastens off to the
pawnshop to make raise This jewelry
was not put up, neither were the second and
third hauls. Then we knew that We had to
deal with rascalS who had come well heeled
and We're holding on to their stuff or ship
ping it to some other city for sale. The first
three robbeTies were made at the supper
hour, when all the family were in the dining
room or down stairs. The papers made such
an ado about it as to place citizens ON their
guard and the thieves changed their hours.
1t was in summer and very hot weather.
and, all upstairs windows were open for
ventilation. They went into three or four
| houses through second-story windows in the
evening or up to as late as midnight, and
cleaned out Jewel cases without being seen
or heard
Perhaps the boldest feat was the sixth Job
undertaken. There was a small one story
| house standing beside an elegant mansion.
| The little house was on corner. One of the
| fellows mounted to the roof crept along to
the larger house and then assembled the tin
conductor on the big house to bath room
window. The blinds inside were locked but
he hung to the sill with one hand until he
could open them with the other. People on
the street saw him and a policeman called
| out to know what he was doing. The fellow
was then sitting in the window dangling his
| legs in a careless way and he replied:
Jim and | do that for exercise every
| night"
With that he disappeared into the bath
| room and proceeded to ranSack the various
| rooms on that floor. 1t seemed that all the
| family except daughter were away to a
neighbours and the young lady had a beau
| in the parlOr. The servants were out on a
rear veranda and the rooms were thus at
the mercy of the thief He took his time in
making his search and, while he was after
| money and jewelry first, he did not deSpise
laces, opera glasses and valuable bric-a-brac.
| He made up large bundle of stuff, took a
cigar which he found on mantel and was
| putting away in the coolest manner when
| he descended the front stairs. The girl
heard him and came out into the hall and
asked:
did you want to see papaH
Eyes, my dear" was the ready reply;
| ''but he seems to be out. Tell him | called
will youT
What is the nameH'
"Wilcox-Judge Wilcox. l brought my
| Egyptian curios over for him to look at, but
some other night will do as well. "
She saw him depart without thought of
| how he entered and the robbery was, of
course, discovered later on. The detectives
were instructed to let everything drop to
| hunt down these slick fellows and there was
| any amount of cursing and jawing over our
| ill luck. We had every hotel and boarding
| house under strict scrutiny, but we could
| turn up no suspicious characters answering
| to the description of these. The man who
| sat on the sill of the bath room window was
said to have long black whiskers The one
| who passed for Judge Wilcox had auburn
| BurnsideS and was an unctuOus sort of a
| fellow. Five hundred men could have been
| found in days hunt to answer these de-
| scriptions. For many days the post office
was watched, strangers were logged about,
depots guarded, and gardens and concert
| halls looked after, but we made no arrests.
At least every second night there was a
fresh robbery and every second day the
papers had opportunity to come out with a
| fresh article and belaborus. We were SEEM
| ingly doing all that men could do and our
| position was truly uncomfortable. The eli
| max came about in the oldest sort of way
! On one of the fashionable thoroughfares
| lived an old maid-that is, she was one of a
| family, being, if remember right, the mans
| sister. She was pretty well off and always
had several hundred dollars in bureau
| drawer in her room. She had read about
| the work of the gang and was in a state of
| terror for fear the house would be visited
| One day brilliant idea occurred to her
She would capture one of the mob. She
| planned it that one of them would climb up
| to her corner window by means of the con
| ductor, enter without disturbing her. as she
was a sound sleeper, and go for that money
| What did she do but go out and buy steel
! trap-something big enough to hold fox
| She got one of the servants to set it for her
and the open trap was placed in the top bu-
| reau drawer, and the chain led out through
! the back side and made fast.
| Two nights passed without another depre-
| dation. We were keeping such a sharp
| lookout that the fellows had to be more fly.
| On the third night at exactly quarter of
| II, the old maid was aroused from her deep
| sleep by human yell of pain, and she was
no sooner on end than she saw that she had
! caught her man. He was down on his knees
| in front of the bureau and both hands were
| fast in the trap His first yell was his only
one. When he found the woman was awake
he calmly observed:
Excuse me, but think I'm in the wrong
room. Please don't make any disturbance
| about itn
"Who are your
"a friend of Wills and we both came
home little sprung. Won't you please
| help me to get my hands loosen
There was a VIII about the house-the
mans own son-but he had not been out
that evening, nor was he in the habit of
drinking. Without getting out of bed the
woman touched an electric button, and
| within ten minutes the house was aroused
| and two policemen had the man in charge
| The Jaws of the trap had caught him about
the wrists and he had suffered good deal
of pain He was the Judge Wilcox chap,
Burnsides, JUNCTION and all. When taken to
| the station his whiskeTS were found TO be
glued on, and he also had false wig. When
| these were removed he stood forth as pert
and trim a thief as you would wish to over
| haul He turned ont to be a New Orleans
man named Davis, and was only 20 years
| old.
The capture Of Davis partner followed
! swiftly, and also in q curious way. AS a
! train was about ready to leave for the North
a spruce young follow came into the baggage
department at the depot to get his trunk
checked 1t was there all right, but he got
into q iangle with the expressman about the
charge for bringing it down and tho depot
officer finally arrested both. On the way to
the station the young fellow tried 10 bride
the officer and that settled him. We went
for the trunk and when 1t was opened every